Every day, artists are getting more and more creative with ideas for recycling, ranging anywhere from flattened-can mosaics to sculptures formed out of pages from old books. Japanese artist Makaon uses old cans to build fictional characters, superheroes, and robots that give fun new life to these used and empty containers.
Using an origami-like process, the artist bends, twists, and flattens layers of aluminum to create the complex forms, featuring a range of characters from Super Mario, Luigi, Hello Kitty, and Pikachu, to Batman, Darth Vader, and Buzz Lightyear. It’s not only interesting to explore the range of characters that Makaon conjures up, but it’s also fun to identify which liquids had to be consumed in order to obtain all of the necessary materials.
Beer and soda cans, as well as energy drinks, allow for the accurate color range, and the artist mixes drink containers depending on the required palette. For example, Super Mario’s shirt and hat are formed out of Coca-Cola pieces, while his shoes are Coke Zero, and his overalls are formed out of cans of the Japanese beer Suntory. Meanwhile, Darth Vader features just one type of popular Japanese beer container, Asahi.
